Melissa could be the worst hurricane Jamaica has experienced since recordkeeping began — but some residents on the Caribbean island say they will believe it when they see it.

The country’s top officials have urged people on the island of 2.8 million to cooperate with evacuation orders, but some are staying put, even as torrential rains and battering winds begin.

“Jamaicans on the whole aren’t the type of people who would just get up and leave their home,” said Jamal Peters, a 34-year-old front manager at a hotel in Port Royal.

“They’d prefer to stay. And if a window blows out or something like that they can be there.”

Peters took up his post last month, and so far preparations at the 63-room waterfront hotel have involved moving guests to higher floors, battening down wherever possible

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